The present invention relates to ink-jet printing systems, and more particularly, ink-jet printing systems that make use of ink containers that are replaceable separate from a printhead.
Ink-jet printers frequently make use of an ink-jet printhead mounted to a carriage which is moved back and fourth across a print media, such as paper. As the printhead is moved across the print media, a control system activates the printhead to deposit ink droplets onto the print media to form images and text.
Previously used printers have made use of an ink container that is separably replaceable from the printhead. When the ink cartridge is exhausted the ink cartridge is removed and replaced with a new ink container. The use of replaceable ink containers that are separate from the printhead allow users to replace the ink container without replacing the printhead. The printhead is then replaced at or near the end of printhead life and not when the ink container is exhausted.
There is an ever-present need for printing systems that are capable of providing low operating costs such as printers that make use of off-axis type ink supplies. In addition, these printing systems should be easy to operate, such as, including some form of memory for storing printing parameters so that the user is not required to adjust printer parameters when the ink container is replaced. These ink supplies should be capable of reliable insertion into the printing system to ensure proper fluid interconnection and proper electrical interconnection once properly installed. In addition, these interconnections should be reliable and should not degrade over time and use. For example, the fluid interconnect should not leak during use or over time and the electrical interconnect should be reliable during use and over time. In addition, these ink cartridges should not require special handling by the user and should be reliable and easily connected by the user to form a positive highly reliable mechanical, electrical, and fluid interconnect with the printer.
These ink containment systems should be capable of providing ink at high flow rates to a printhead thereby allowing high throughput printing. This ink supply system should be cost effective to allow relatively low cost per page printing. In addition, the ink supply should be capable of providing ink at high flow rates in a reliable manner to the printhead.
The electrical interconnection between the ink container and printer should be reliable without requiring relatively large contact force. The use of relatively large contact force tends to improve the reliability of the electrical interconnect. Large contact force interconnects tend to require increased latch and insertion forces which tend to result in increased costs due to higher force latch springs and larger latching surfaces. Therefore, the electrical interconnect should be capable of providing high reliability and requiring relatively low interconnect forces.
Finally, the ink containers should be relatively compact so that the space required for the ink container receiving station is not too large. Color printing systems usually print four colors such as cyan, yellow, magenta and black. In the case of high fidelity printing, these systems often make use of seven or more colors. As larger numbers of ink colors are required it becomes even more important that each individual ink container be compact or make efficient use of space to limit the size of the ink container receiving station.
Compact ink containers also better suited for smaller format printers. For example, printers that print on smaller sized media are more compact and therefore require more compact ink containers for a smaller ink container receiving station. In addition, these smaller format printers typically use ink at a lower use rate than the larger format printers and therefore do not require as large an ink supply as the larger format printers.